Self Sovereign Identities on RSK: Introducing rLogin
Blockchain technology is slowly but steadily seeping into the mainstream via different facets of our lives. Be it finance, supply chain, real estate or banking, distributed ledger technology (DLT) holds the potential to bring about a new paradigm in how every individual interacts with their immediate environment in terms of safety, privacy and efficiency. Blockchain’s role in reshaping how one manages their virtual identity is no different.
In this blog post, we will delve deep into the world of SSIDs, their evolution in recent times, RSK blockchain’s contribution to SSIDs and what the future holds for this emerging and promising method of maintaining a decentralized virtual identity on the Internet.
Index
What are SSIDs? A Quick Recap
Building SSIDs on RSK’s Blockchain
Benefits of SSIDs on RSK’s Blockchain
Bitcoin’s Unparalleled Security
User in Charge of their Privacy
Seamless Interoperability and Consent
Examples of SSIDs on RSK
RIF Identity
RIF Name Service
rLogin
What is rLogin?
What is Ahead for SSIDs?
Summing Up
What are SSIDs? A Quick Recap
SSIDs are essentially models for managing virtual identities where the concerned user is in complete control of their data and their online identity. SSIDs enable users to store their personal data on devices and be able to readily share the same for instant verification without being dependent on any third-party or centralized data authority.
The three major aspects of SSIDs are claims, proofs and validations. We discussed the three components in detail previously but in a nutshell, these three components interact with one another to assert and more importantly, verify one’s ownership of their personal data.
One issue that has plagued the adoption of SSIDs is the difficulty in its replication in the online world vis-a-vis the real world. For instance, credit cards work just fine in the real world wherein an individual is able to assert the ownership of the card and able to verify the said ownership whenever required. However, emulating the same on the Internet is a tad bit more difficult due to various factors which have largely to do with centralized data authorities.
To name of few of these hurdles, it is the lack of physical interaction or element, lack of privacy, lack of consent, lack of flexibility and lack of security. Fortunately enough, blockchain technology holds the potential to ignite the adoption of SSIDs masively.
Building SSIDs on RSK’s Blockchain
Just like any other blockchain domain or network, RSK provides the typical benefits of a DLT that include immutability, unparalleled security and transparency. However, what sets RSK apart from its competition is the fact that it is a smart contract platform built on top of the most secure and powerful blockchain network in existence: the Bitcoin network.
RSK blockchain has time and again shown that leveraging the most trusted of all blockchain networks not only leads to the development of robust and innovative applications but also, at the same time, gives users complete control over what they own, share or trade with others.
To date, there have been countless examples that cement RSK blockchain’s expertise in building on top of the Bitcoin protocol. These include various decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, the booming non-fungible-tokens (NFTs) market and the use of blockchain technology across different industries such as supply chain, finance, healthcare, enterprise adoption and others.
Following the same route, RSK has also shown considerable progress in terms of developing SSID products. However, before we dig deeper into some of the successful examples of SSIDs on RSK blockchain, let us first speak of the benefits of developing SSIDs on the Bitcoin-powered smart contract platform.
Benefits of SSIDs on RSK Blockchain
Bitcoin’s Unparalleled Security
As alluded to earlier, the RSK blockchain is powered by the Bitcoin network which is inarguably the strongest and most secure blockchain network. Built on top of Bitcoin’s network, RSK SSIDs enjoy a major benefit of using the most trusted blockchain network in the world.
Unlike centralized virtual identities, which can easily be compromised if and when the data custodian is systematically assaulted through cyberattacks, SSIDs built on RSK are secure to the core thanks to Bitcoin’s bulletproof security. As a Bitcoin sidechain, RSK is well equipped to cascade BTC’s security onto its smart contracts, which in turn power the SSIDs to ensure security and thorough user-data ownership.
User in Charge of their Privacy
Decentralized SSIDs built on RSK smart contracts ensure that the user always has complete control over their data. With RSK SSIDs, users don’t have to worry about the possibility of their data being leaked or closely monitored by any centralized data authority. Only the user is in complete control of their data and no one else.
Seamless Interoperability and Consent
Decentralized SSIDs do away with the stringent problem of interoperability of virtual identities. For instance, one cannot use their YouTube account to login to Snapchat and viceversa. If one thinks about it, the lack of interoperability of virtual identities across different platforms is not congruent to how actual identities work in the real world (i.e. one does not change their name when sharing it with their personal doctor as opposed to the name shared with the police department).
RSK-powered SSIDs solve the lack of interoperability by giving users the liberty to use their decentralized web identity as and where they like. The user can use their virtual identity on pretty much any platform without having to necessarily remember the different passwords for every different platform.
Similarly, SSIDs make it mandatory for applications to always ask users for their consent before using their data for whatever purpose. By levering the RSK smart contracts, SSIDs ensure that no authority can use any part of the user’s virtual identity without the user’s explicit consent.
Examples of SSIDs on RSK
Now that we have talked about the benefits of using SSIDs on the RSK blockchain, it is time to analyze the products that are already live on the smart contract platform. We’ve already discussed RIF Identity and RIF Name Service but we have just introduced another SSID-focused digital identity product: rLogin.
RIF Identity
RIF Identity is an SSID-focused offering with the rapidly expanding RIF ecosystem powered by RSK smart contracts. RIF Identity provides innovative APIs and libraries for developers to build SSID-based solutions. Simply put, RIF Identity is a decentralized alternative to legacy Domain Naming Systems (DNS). Currently, RIF Identity enjoys a good reputation within the emerging SSID space in the blockchain space due to its utility within the wider RSK and RIF ecosystems.
RIF Name Service
RNS extends on to the human-readable identity addresses narrative as introduced under RIF Identity. Not only wallet addresses, but RNS can also be used to enable human-friendly readable addresses on virtually any blockchain. The service can be leveraged to identify different kinds of personal addresses such as payments, identities, data storage and other communication addresses.
RNS addresses several pain points plaguing the mainstream adoption of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies today. It does so by introducing ease of use, interoperability, security and cost-efficiency.
rLogin
rLogin is the latest offering from RIF pertaining to SSIDs. In essence, rLogin integrates with the Internet and blockchain-enabled applications to give users complete control over their own data and digital identity. As part of the RSK Infrastructure Framework (RIF) suite of tools, rLogin is a unified digital identity solution that enables web application developers to seamlessly integrate blockchain technologies. Let us now delve a little deeper into rLogin.
What is rLogin?
As alluded to earlier, rLogin makes it easier for web application developers to integrate blockchain technology into their projects.
It is important to highlight that rLogin is natively compatible with both the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks which makes it a universally functional dApp, to begin with. This ready-usability gives users of any rLogin-powered application the option to use their cryptocurrency wallets to authenticate, store and seamlessly port their data across different Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 applications as and when they desire.
Furthermore, since rLogin is completely decentralized in nature, it gives developers the option to build their own virtual reputation without having to rely on any third-party such as a bank or big tech, thereby letting the developers be in complete control of their data.
There are several core features associated with rLogin that can be leveraged for the benefit of the developers. These are:
- A front-end capable of interacting with any blockchain wallet that the user chooses, with a pre-designed user experience for registration and login.
- A back-end authenticating users by their wallet addresses, which serves as a Decentralized Identifier (DID).
- A registration model capable of requesting users for access to data stored in the Data Vault, its user-centric cloud storage.
- Full compatibility with W3C SSI standards: Decentralized Identifiers (DID) and Verifiable Credentials (VC).
It is worthy to note that while there are already some similar products available in the market that are compatible with Ethereum, RIF is the first to introduce an exhaustive, robust solution that makes it possible to integrate SSIDs into any application with native compatibility with both the Ethereum and Bitcoin networks via RSK smart contracts. rLogin also already enjoys integrations with several crypto wallets such as Metamask, Nifty, Liquality and WalletConnect with plans to introduce similar integrations with more wallets soon.
Sharing his thoughts on the development, Milton Berman, Product Owner, RIF Identity sad:
“rLogin is a huge step towards achieving Self-Sovereign Identity while simplifying the way to interact with the blockchain. We are very excited to see these integrations giving users the flexibility to control their own data and move their crypto assets and reputation across platforms.”
As rLogin is free and open-source, any developer can integrate the service into their application via the tools available on Github. There are three options in total for web application integrators to choose from: authentication without a back-end, authentication with a back-end or authentication requesting user credentials.
Interested developers can learn more about rLogin from the vast library of supporting documentation via its Developer Portal and can also offer support and assistance from the RIF Identity team through an open Slack channel.
The following are some of the many libraries that enable the seamless integration to rLogin protocols:
- The RIF Data Vault – a user-centric cloud storage service
- Verifiable Credential JSON Schemas and parser – this proposes unique standard interface for Verifiable Credentials
- Express DID Auth and DID Auth client – a Node.js back-end authentication library and a client-side authentication consumer
- rLogin modal – a robust UI tool that enables front-end developers to effortlessly integrate different compatible crypto wallets and a pre-designed UX for application signup and login.
What is Ahead for SSIDs?
While there is healthy progress in terms of development and innovation in the natal SSID space, there is a lot yet to be accomplished. The monopoly created by big tech on the web over user identities has risen to alarming levels where it is threatening the very basic fundamental rights of individuals. To be able to get free of these tech-induced shackles, there is an urgent need for decentralized alternatives and that is exactly where RSK smart contracts and RIF continue to build.
With the latest addition of rLogin to its arsenal of SSID offerings, RSK blockchain is one step closer to accomplishing its vision of pushing the adoption of SSIDs on the fringes of mainstream. If the wider cryptocurrency industry is backing decentralization in all aspects of society, there is no reason why virtual identities should be left untouched. With RSK at the forefront of the race, SSIDs becoming commonplace wouldn’t be a distant dream for long.
Summing Up
SSIDs have come a long way from being a theoretical phenomenon circling text books and discussion forums on the Internet to becoming a real-world application that can forever change the way we deal with the web for the good. Excessive centralization of data is not long-term sustainable.
RSK smart contracts, along with RIF are laying the groundwork for what could be the next step in the way people interact with the virtual world. With offerings such as RIF Identity, RIF Name Service and most recently rLogin, RSK continues to show the world why it is the leading blockchain protocol that is committed to safeguarding users’ personal and sensitive information.